Wilmington station (Delaware)

Wilmington station, also known as the Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Railroad Station, is a passenger rail station in Wilmington, Delaware. It serves nine Amtrak train routes and is part of the Northeast Corridor. It also serves SEPTA Regional Rail commuter trains on the Wilmington/Newark Line as well as DART First State local buses and Greyhound Lines intercity buses.

Wilmington, DE
Wilmington station in July 2014
General information
Other names	Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Railroad Station
Location	100 South French Street Wilmington, Delaware United States
Coordinates	39°44′12″N 75°33′04″W
Owned by	Amtrak
Line(s)	Amtrak Northeast Corridor
Platforms	2 side platforms, 1 island platform
Tracks	3
Connections	Amtrak Thruway DART First State: 2, 5, 6, 10, 11, 13, 14, 18, 20, 33, 35, 37, 40, 42, 52, 301 Greyhound Lines
Construction
Parking	Paid parking nearby
Bicycle facilities	20 rack spaces
Accessible	Yes
Other information
Station code	Amtrak: WIL SEPTA: 90203
IATA code	ZWI
Fare zone	4 (SEPTA)
History
Opened	1908 (1908)
Rebuilt	2011
Electrified	1928 (toward Philadelphia) 1935 (toward Washington D.C)
Previous names	French Street Wilmington Pennsylvania Station
Passengers
FY 2023	625,373 (Amtrak)
2017	878 boardings, 632 alightings (weekday average) (SEPTA)
Rank	19 of 146 (SEPTA)
Services
Preceding station Amtrak Following station Baltimore toward Washington, D.C. Acela Philadelphia toward Boston South Vermonter Philadelphia toward St. Albans Baltimore toward Chicago Cardinal Philadelphia toward New York Baltimore toward Charlotte Carolinian Baltimore toward New Orleans Crescent Baltimore toward Savannah Palmetto Baltimore toward Miami Silver Meteor Newark, Delaware toward Norfolk, Newport News or Roanoke Northeast Regional Philadelphia toward Boston South or Springfield Preceding station SEPTA Following station Churchmans Crossing toward Newark Wilmington/​Newark Line Claymont toward Temple University
Former services Preceding station Pennsylvania Railroad Following station Newport toward Washington, D.C. Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Edge Moor toward Philadelphia Terminus Wilmington Line Edge Moor toward Suburban Station New Castle toward Cape Charles Delmarva Division Terminus Preceding station Amtrak Following station Newark, Delaware toward Washington, D.C. Chesapeake Chester toward Philadelphia–Suburban Baltimore toward Washington, D.C. Federal Philadelphia toward Boston South Aberdeen toward Tri-State Hilltopper Baltimore toward Washington, D.C. Metroliner Philadelphia toward New York Montrealer Philadelphia toward Montreal Baltimore toward Miami Silver Star Philadelphia toward New York
Wilmington Station
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Area	2 buildings and 1 structure on 3.3 acres (1.3 ha)
Architect	Furness, Evans & Co.
Architectural style	Romanesque Revival
NRHP reference No.	76000581
Added to NRHP	November 21, 1976
Location

Built in 1907 as Pennsylvania Station, the station was renamed in 2011 for then-Vice President (now President) Joe Biden, an advocate for passenger rail who routinely took the train from Wilmington to Washington, D.C. during his time as a Senator from 1973 to 2009. In 1987, Biden formally announced his ultimately unsuccessful bid for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination at this station. Located on Front Street between French and Walnut Streets in downtown Wilmington, the station has one inside level with stores, a cafe/newsstand, Amtrak and SEPTA ticket offices, a car rental office, and restrooms. Passengers board their trains on the second-story train platforms.

History

The station from above in a 1977 Historic American Engineering Record survey photo

The station in 2010 during renovation

The station replaced an earlier station erected by the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad.

It was built in 1907 for $300,000 by the PW&B successor, the Pennsylvania Railroad. It was designed by renowned architect Frank Furness, who also designed the adjacent Pennsylvania Railroad Building (which housed the offices for the Delaware Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad) and the nearby Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's Water Street Station. The Pennsylvania Railroad Building has since been renovated; as of 2014, it holds the offices of ING Direct United States.

Admired for his use of new and innovative materials and his forceful architectural statements, Furness chose to have the trains move right through the second floor of the station, with room for a ticketing and retail concourse at ground level underneath the tracks. This unconventional arrangement celebrated the power of the locomotive and America's industrial strength. The north end of the station has a four-faced rectangular clock tower that rises an extra story above the main roof. It is decorated with stone and terra cotta work that is repeated in plainer form throughout the station.

Wilmington Station has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1976. A renovation project was conducted in 1984. The National Register added the adjacent railroad viaduct in 1999. SEPTA has been running to Wilmington since 1989.

In 2009, the station began a two-year restoration; about two-thirds of the $37.7 million in funding came from United States government stimulus funds. During construction, customer operations, including platform access, were moved to a temporary station next door. The station reopened on December 6, 2010, and final work was completed in March 2011.

On March 19, 2011, the station's name was changed from Wilmington Station to Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Railroad Station. The ceremony honored U.S. Vice President (now President) Joe Biden, who took over 7,000 round trips from the station to Washington, D.C. during his U.S. Senate career and was noted as an advocate for Amtrak and passenger rail more generally. On January 20, 2017, within an hour after completing his tenure as vice president, Biden boarded an Amtrak Acela train in Washington, D.C. bound for his namesake station.

The adjacent Wilmington Transit Center for DART First State bus service opened in May 2020. A $11.6 million renovation of the station, which included two new escalators, was completed in October 2023.

Services

Trains

A northbound Amtrak Northeast Regional train stops at Wilmington station

The station is served by Amtrak Northeast Regional and Acela trains along the Northeast Corridor going south to Baltimore and Washington, D.C., and going north to Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston. It is also served by several long-distance trains including the Cardinal to Chicago, the Carolinian to Charlotte, the Crescent to New Orleans, the Palmetto to Savannah, the Silver Meteor to Miami, and the Vermonter to St. Albans, Vermont. Amtrak Thruway service is provided through the station to Dover, Delaware and Salisbury, Maryland via Greyhound Lines.

Despite being just 25 miles south of Philadelphia's 30th Street Station, the third-busiest Amtrak station in the country, Wilmington Station is a major Amtrak station in its own right. It is the seventh-busiest Amtrak station in the Mid-Atlantic region (behind New York Penn, Washington Union, 30th Street, Baltimore Penn, Albany-Rensselaer and BWI) and the 13th-busiest nationwide.

It is also served by SEPTA Regional Rail's Wilmington/Newark Line with service to Center City Philadelphia and Newark, Delaware. Like all stations in Delaware, SEPTA service is provided under contract and funded through DART First State, which also provides extensive local bus service as they have since 1994.

Intercity buses

Wilmington Bus Station serving Greyhound Lines

Greyhound Lines intercity buses stop at the Wilmington Bus Station adjacent to the Wilmington station at 101 North French Street. The bus terminal is attached to the station's parking garage. Greyhound Lines provides direct, one-seat ride service from the bus terminal to various cities including Baltimore, New York City, Norfolk, Philadelphia, Richmond, and Washington, D.C.

Local transit

Wilmington Transit Center serving DART First State buses

DART First State bus routes serving Wilmington station include 2, 5, 6, 10, 11, 13, 14, 18, 20, 28, 33, 35, 37, 40, 52, 301, and 305 (seasonally). Most buses stop at the Wilmington Transit Center adjacent to the station.

The Wilmington Transit Center was built as a DART First State bus hub adjacent to Wilmington station. A groundbreaking ceremony for the transit center was held on November 19, 2018, with Governor John Carney, U.S. Senator Tom Carper, Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki, DelDOT Secretary Jennifer Cohan, and DART First State CEO John Sisson in attendance. The Wilmington Transit Center serves most DART First State bus routes in Wilmington and includes a covered waiting area with seats, real-time bus displays, a ticket sales office, restrooms, vending machines, bicycle racks, and parking. Construction of the transit center cost $19 million and opened on May 17, 2020.

See also

• Wilmington and Western Railroad
• List of Delaware railroads
• Wilmington Rail Viaduct
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Wilmington, Delaware

Further reading

• Dilts, James D. (Fall–Winter 2010). "Three Amtrak Stations Take Different Roads to Rehabilitation". Railroad History (203): 46–50. JSTOR 43525153.

External links

• Wilmington, DE – Amtrak
• Wilmington, DE – Station history at Great American Stations (Amtrak)
• SEPTA – Wilmington station
• Wilmington Amtrak & SEPTA Station – USA RailGuide (TrainWeb)
• Friends of Furness Railroad District Archived November 21, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
• Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. DE-12-D, "Pennsylvania Railroad Improvements, Wilmington Train Station", HAER No. DE-12-E, "Pennsylvania Railroad Improvements, Pennsylvania Railroad Office Building"
• NRHP Station Listing with Photos Archived July 21, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
• Station on Google Maps Street View: Front Street entrance, French Street entrance, West end of station
• Article from Railroad Age Gazette (1908) with original floor plan